Axis Powers Hetalia: Two Americas
by Ehren Hatten
Summary: AU to my usual APH work. What if a second America suddenly appeared out of no where and tried to take over Alfred's life? He's friendly toward Arthur and Matt, friendly to Palestine, but not so much toward anyone who isn't Liberal. chapter 2 up.
1. Chapter One

_A/N: Okay, this sort of goes outside of my American Politics pieces, and sort of not. It's in with it, but on the outside as a sort of "What if" scenario. The deal is I keep getting people going "America isn't conservative! America is liberal!" and "There's got to be another America! This one isn't really America!" Okay, let's have at that then. Two Americas._

**Two Americas**

_Chapter One_

Alfred F. Jones, the embodiment of America, walked into the White House for his usual meeting with the president of the United States of America. He was a very handsome young man, his appearance somewhere around nineteen or twenty, with clean-cut looks, blue eyes and blonde hair. He walked by the secretaries, the workers, lobbyists, and the so called Czars. He really didn't pay them much attention, though. He knew the Czars gave him loathsome looks usually, though they hid it decently enough most of the time.

He made his way to the door to the oval office and opened it, but stopped short when he saw someone was in his usual seat. He would have just backed out or said "hello" to the person, taken a seat elsewhere and waited his turn, like usual, except that the person in the seat was an exact replica of him right down to the cowlick hair that never seemed to stay in place. The only difference was that he didn't wear glasses. Alfred was the one wearing the glasses. The glasses that Texas, Hannah Cook, always had made for him.

"Sorry? What… is going on?" asked Alfred, frowning. The president simply looked up, relaxed, smiling that same benign smile that Alfred hated seeing spreading across his dark face.

"I knew that there must be another America running around. After all, **you** simply couldn't be the America that represents **all** of us, right?" said the president in a cool tone.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm the only America around," said Alfred, "I already told you that when you were sworn in. I told that to the **previous** guy when **he** was sworn in. I told that to the guy before **him** and the guy before _him_ and so on."

"That's not true and you know it, Alfred," said the other Alfred, laughing brightly as he put his feet up on the desk. "After all, **I've** been around since the beginning."

Alfred frowned deeply. "No, that's not right at all." Alfred would remember another America running around. There was Alfred and Matt when they were growing up under Arthur and Francis's care and then the colony girls cropped up and Alfred helped take care of them and played with them while he never saw Matt again after he was taken away. And then the colony girls took on the traits of their respective colonies as they grew up and developed their love for Alfred. Not even when those girls were divided in their ideologies reflecting their people's ideologies did there arise a second America. Not even when Alfred was splitting apart at his stomach during the Civil War did there arise a second America.

So why was there a clone of him sitting in that chair in front of him?

"Oh my God, I've finally cracked," muttered Alfred. He pulled his glasses off and rubbed his face, trying to understand and getting no where. But even **that** analysis wasn't right. The president could see the clone as well and was all smiles toward him, too. Even Ivan Braginsky, the former Soviet Union and the embodiment of Russia who was driven utterly insane by the bloodshed and the stress Lenin and Stalin, especially Stalin, had given him for years, was not two people. Well, saying that, yes, in a way, he was two people. Ivan had a sort of split personality that was thanks to his people cracking. Normally the Russian nation was very nice and, in fact, was Alfred's good friend back before the Soviet Union got started up. Now Alfred could barely look him in the eye in any sort of friendly fashion without thinking of the constant veiled threats the Russian gave him. Even **he** had not split up like this.

"I'd say you were already cracked, but that's just my opinion, of course," said the other Alfred. Alfred shot him an annoyed look. "What? It's true, isn't it? Hell, you even had me chained up in your basement for the longest time."

"I never did that," said Alfred. He looked to the president, but only saw that ever present smile on his face. "Well, I never did! He's lying. Hell, I don't even know what made him crop up at all."

"Pfft! You're going to look to Mr. President for reassurance? Look, just fess up and all will be forgiven. After all, he is our president and we must respect him no matter what. If **he** fails then **I** fail—I mean—**we** fail," said the other Alfred, chattering way cheerfully. That was how Alfred normally was, though. Alfred was cheerful, good, decent, and very optimistic. It was only when the president and the congress started governing against the will of the people that Alfred started losing that cheerful, optimistic nature. Even still, Alfred was Alfred and he had never been two people at all.

"I'm inclined to agree with Alfred here, Mr. Jones," said the president. "And it makes sense. You haven't been very respectful to me and he has. You are the **conservative** America and he is the **liberal**. He is the majority. **You** are the _minority_."

Alfred shook his head in disbelief. It was like reality itself was unraveling for him. Perhaps something really had happened and he had somehow split into two people. "Look, I'm calling Arthur. He'll clear this up," said Alfred as he took out his cellphone and started looking for the number to England.

"I wouldn't do that," said the other Alfred, leaning back and putting his sneaker clad feet up on the desk. "Wah wah wah, that's all you'll be crying, anyway. Like a baby to dear England."

Alfred willed himself to ignore the chattering and dialed England's number quickly. He heard Arthur pick up and, before he could start talking, he realized that he was in the room with the other Alfred and the president, both of whom he hardly trusted enough to let them eat off the same plate as him much less have a conversation in front of them. "Hey, Arthur, can I have a quick word with you?"

"Alfred, what the bloody fuck are you calling me again for?" snapped Arthur Kirkland, Great Britian/England. "You just called me a few minutes ago and started spouting off a line of shite to me about how you were finally going to be like me. What is it you want **now**?"

"What do you mean there's always been two of us? There has only ever been one Alfred!" snapped Alfred, ruffling his hair and pacing in an agitated fashion.

"Two of you? You've got to be joking. April Fools has passed, Alfred," said Arthur.

"You're the one who told me I only had one brother and that is my twin, Matt, right? Why are you just now telling me there's always been two Americas?" said Alfred quickly. "That doesn't make sense. I would remember that kind of thing."

"What on Earth are you **on**?" said Arthur in bewilderment.

Alfred stayed silent and rubbed his face for good measure, making a grumbling noise in his throat to show his exasperation. The president sat back, looking very intrigued. The other Alfred stayed put; smiling as though he knew that was the truth all along. Alfred never tried so hard in his life to be the best, most convincing actor he could be. He never had a reason to until then.

"Stop smiling like that. It's not funny," snapped Alfred at the clone.

"I'm not laughing," said the other Alfred, chuckling. "Geez, man, you take shit too seriously."

Arthur was dead silent on the other end. Alfred hoped that getting the other Alfred to speak would help his case to Arthur and he was proved aright when Arthur spoke again. "That was just you… answering **you**," said Arthur, "Fucking brilliant. Two of you. What the fuck happened?"

"There's only ever been me, Matt and the states!" Alfred shouted into the receiver. "One minute I'm coming into my usual meeting with the president and then the next he's sitting across from another me and **that** me is saying I've chained him up in my basement for ages. I have no idea what the fuck he's talking about, Arthur!" Alfred paused, Arthur made a noise as though he was going to continue, but Alfred cut him off. "No, no, no—There's only ever been **me**!"

"That hurt, you realize, Alfred," muttered Arthur. "So he's saying you locked him away in your basement and your president has got to be one of the most arrogant bastards I've ever come in contact with and is the slimiest politician I've ever had to deal with in a long while, so no doubt he's enjoying this show." Alfred rubbed his face again and groaned. "I'll call Matthew and talk to him. You get in contact with your girls as soon as possible. I don't trust this new development one bit."

"Fuck you, Arthur!" snapped Alfred as loudly as he could and threw his phone down. The other Alfred snorted and started laughing.

"Now, calm down, Mr. Jones," said the president in that patronizing tone he had taken to using toward Alfred for the past year. "No need to break your toys."

"Seriously, man, I told you I've always been here. What's up with you, anyway? Don't you like having another me around? Come on!" said the other Alfred.

Alfred gathered up his phone and stuffed it into his pocket. He had successfully broken it in his little show of anger. He sighed as he looked at it. He'd have to get another one to replace it, but, in the mean time, he had a second one the president didn't know the number to. "Damn it," he muttered. The other Alfred laughed again, aggravating Alfred a bit more. Alfred looked to them and then walked over, sitting down in the chair next to the clone.

"Now that we are gathered," said the president, once more acting exactly like a king on a throne. What was it with this man and thinking he was the ruler of the land? He was an elected representative, not a ruler. He wasn't representing anyone the way he had been acting for the past year. In fact, he had been tearing down America bit by bit. "Alfred, you were saying that you thought the healthcare reform bill was a wonderful idea, right?"

"Oh yeah, man. That's awesome stuff, there. No more uninsured people, no more problems. Hell, we might even end up getting free healthcare from the government at some point, right?" said the clone.

"That's in the plans, actually," said the president. "It won't happen right away, but that is the eventuality."

"Meanwhile, you're going to tax the people more and more just to sustain this endeavor, you're going to fine people for living without health insurance and all of this is mandated," said Alfred, his leg twitching again like it usually did when he started getting agitated. "Sir, I've told you before that you can't do this. The people don't want this! They keep coming in droves to prove it to you."

"In droves? I haven't seen quite that many people, Mr. Jones," said the president calmly, "I've just seen a bunch of radicals coming to try to push their hateful words on everyone here."

"Hateful's too light," said the clone, "More like racist and bigoted. They're all redneck rubes. They have no idea what's going on. Like that Palin chick. Man, talk about one that flew over the cuckoo's nest."

Alfred frowned. The former Alaskan governor wasn't all bad from the dealings he had had with her. In fact, Alaska herself seemed rather pleased with her. Certainly she didn't seem that well informed at times, but she was quick to learn what she didn't know and was quick to point out what she did know for certain. Either way, the idea of her being seen as crazy was, in a word, crazy. "She's not that bad," said Alfred.

"Not that bad!" snapped the clone, sitting up sharply. "She's a total idiot! And she's disgusting! Look at what she did to rape victims in her own state! She forced them to pay for their own rape kits!"

"That was the police chief, actually, while she was mayor," said Alfred. He had heard about the incident from Aga Tukkuttok, Alaska, back when it happened. "There's never been any proof she had a hand in it."

"Of course she had a hand in it! She was the mayor! As mayor she should know what's going on!" snapped the other Alfred.

"Aren't people supposed to be innocent until proven guilty?" asked Alfred calmly. The other Alfred opened his mouth to say something, but smiled when the president cleared his throat.

"Sorry, man, didn't mean to steal your thunder," said the other Alfred.

"Quite all right," said the president.

"That reminds me. The IRS is going to be overseeing this new healthcare reform, sir. They don't treat people as 'innocent until proven guilty', but 'guilty until proven innocent'. Why have them head this?" asked Alfred.

"Well, someone has to look over the money, right?" said the president. He smiled a little and leaned back in his chair. "In any case, I need you to talk to the girls, reason with them, and make them understand that this will make everything better, Alfred," he said to the clone, "Oh and I need you to talk to Israel, as well. She's been very obstinate about the settlements in Jerusalem."

"That's her capital, **sir**," said Alfred, "She's breaking no treaties with it."

"But it's inconvenient," said the president, "In our dealings with Palestine to gain peace in the Middle East, we need Israel to stop encroaching on Palestine territory."

"It's not **Palestine** territory, it's her **capital**!" Alfred said quickly. "What part of that don't you understand?"

"Don't be disrespectful to the president!" snapped the clone. "Get the hell out of here, man. You're being a drag."

Alfred got to his feet, exasperated, and straightened his jacket. "I'm going home. Excuse me." Then, he went for the door.

"Don't you mean, **my** home?" said the clone.

"No, it's **my** home," said Alfred. Then, he walked out.

* * *

"What?" Matthew Williams, Canada, the twin brother to Alfred in every way, appearance-wise, except that Matt had longer hair and was very shy, looked puzzled as he talked on the phone with Arthur. "You can't be serious, Arthur. That doesn't make much sense. I would remember if there was _two_ of him." In fact he would probably hate it if there were two Alfreds. Just imagining two Alfreds made him shudder.

"I'm being serious, Matthew," said Arthur through the speaker, "This isn't something ordinary. I know that nations suddenly appear sometimes from no where, but split apart like this?"

"Well, Alfred did almost split apart during the Civil War," said Matt softly.

"Don't be silly, Matthew, Alfred nearly died thanks to that silly war," said Arthur. Matt kept his mouth shut and smiled sheepishly. "It nearly split him right across his middle. You've seen the scar."

"Y-yes, I have," Matt mumbled softly.

"What? Speak up. I can't hear you."

"I said I have seen the scar too, Arthur," said Matt a bit louder. "But really, if the other Alfred is agreeing with you, then what's the problem? I mean, he's never been very agreeable with anyone, right? So, why is the other Alfred a problem?"

"Because it's not fucking Alfred, that's why," snapped Arthur. Matt held the phone away from his ear to keep from getting his eardrum blasted by the surly Englishman. "Even if Alfred's disagreeable a lot of the time and acts like a complete idiot at times, it's still Alfred. It's independent, free flying Alfred and to have some fucking git sit there and play yes-man to me is both frightening and beyond aggravating!"

"I guess you're right," muttered Matt. Personally, he would prefer an Alfred that didn't beat him so often at games and didn't make fun of him.

Arthur sighed in exasperation. "I can tell this is going to go no where. I'm calling Aashiyana and getting her input. And then I'm going over there."

"N-no, I can go south and talk to Alfred," said Matt.

Arthur sighed. "Fine. Just do it. I'm coming over there anyway to see this for myself anyway."

"Eh—Okay, I guess," said Matt, smiling a bit. Arthur hung up shortly after that, leaving Matt very bewildered.


	2. Chapter Two

_Chapter Two_

Alfred got home and found that the lock on his door had changed. He blinked and frowned at it. What was this? Why the hell was his door not opening for him? He tried different keys, thinking that perhaps in his anger, frustration and weariness that he had somehow picked a different, key, but, no, he still couldn't open his door. He grunted and then pulled out a screwdriver from his jacket and dealt with it that way. He grinned when it opened and walked in without much more effort.

Inside the house, everything was relatively the same. It really just seemed someone had switched the lock on the front door quickly before going out rather than someone taking the entire house over. That was a good side. Still, Alfred had to get a new lock in place before the clone came to lay claim to Alfred's belongings. Alfred's prized collection of Star Wars figures, his Star Trek tribble that cooed when you petted it, his entire Indiana Jones collection and hat and even worse than that, his address books. He pulled up his other phone from its hiding place and checked it to see that everything on it was all right before stuffing it into his jacket and putting the broken one in its place. He got out all his money that he kept hiding away that wasn't in the bank and picked out his credit cards to keep on him. The last thing he needed was the clone to spend all his money on stuff.

_Liberal_ America? The whole thing was ridiculous. There was only **America**, not one America and then another America. And, if anything, Alfred was the only America. The other one just showed up from no where and started spouting out utter lies. His State Girls took care of the various personalities and traits of the rest of the country! Speaking of his State Girls, he needed to get a hold of them and start the call tree going as quickly as possible. He ran all the way to the hardware store and got a new lock with key and ran back to the house. If Alfred figured it out well enough, the other Alfred would still be in the White House continuously playing "yes man" to whatever the president said regardless of what was right or wrong. Alfred set to work on the door, quickly installing the new lock and tried the key. Perfect! Now all Alfred had to do was make sure that he couldn't get the lock out to replace it. He thought about cementing it in place, but that would take too much time and he was impatient as it was to start the State Girls Call Tree.

He locked the door and put things in front of it and the back door so as to deter the clone before he went up to his bedroom and locked that door as well. He pulled out his phone, finally, and sat down on his bed. The first one he called was Hannah Cook, Texas, whom he knew for a fact would get the ball rolling. The second he would call was Mia Brown, California, who he favored over them all. "Hey, Hannah," he said into the phone.

"Alfred? What the fuck do you want now," snapped the Texan. Alfred had a very bad feeling that the bastard had gone about calling the girls already. How long had that clone been up and about?

"Listen, Hannah," he said, "Calm down." She started cursing at him in quick Spanish that made him pull the phone away from his ear. "Hannah, you know I can't understand you when you trip into Spanish. Come on. Please talk English to me, okay?"

"You just called up to tell me that I was acting like a spoiled brat who needed a good spanking for reminding the president that I've got the right to secede from the union and go back to being a fucking republic, you cock sucking whore," snapped Hannah. "I've got every right in the world to remind the president and congress that! Every right! And you know what? So does Rosa and Clara and—"

"Hannah! Cool it!" Hannah shut up quickly and he could hear her breathe out slowly. No doubt, he could see her lightly tanned cheeks red with anger, as red as her bright red, curly hair. If she were there in person, Alfred would likely have been punched in the face again and she would have to replace his glasses again. "Something really funky has happened, Hannah," said Alfred, "I'm not sure what's going on. You've got to call the other girls and tell them to start calling out, too."

"Okay? What's going on, Alfred," asked Hannah, her tone more curious than angry.

"I don't… know," said Alfred slowly, "I went to the White House for the usual meeting with the president after I had lunch and went to the Smithsonian for a little stroll around the flight exhibits and there was another me in my seat. Only, it wasn't really me, but some weird clone of me saying that I had chained him up in the basement for years and took over his life. Then, he started talking about how the president was awesome and how right he was and junk. It was surreal!"

"Jesus Christ Almighty," mumbled Hannah. "Are you sure? I mean, you haven't totally cracked on everyone and developed some sort of split personality, right?"

"Not at all! The president could see him and talk to him and everything. I thought I'd cracked too, but then I realized that the president just looked more and more amused by it all. It's like he had a hand in it or something," said Alfred, pacing back and forth in front of his bed. He looked out the window to see if the clone was coming near.

"No doubt he did, the cocksucker," muttered Hannah.

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it, Alfred," said Hannah, "We've had a bunch of socialist radicals trying to convince everyone else that Marx was right in one way or another since the turn of the 20th century, but most especially since the 1960s with the hippie movement and such. Those hippies have no gotten into places of power. They're taking control."

"So… what? This is some weird metaphor for the total take over of the country?" asked Alfred.

"I have no idea, honestly, I'm just taking a guess. I know we're the people, but to have a totally separate entity show up to personify some minority? I would think Germany would've had that problem and Russia would've had that problem, too. Hell, even Cuba would have that problem," said Hannah. "Look, hon, I'll spread the word. You call up Mia, okay? I doubt he'll be different to her, but you never know."

"Yeah," Alfred said softly, "I plan on it. Talk to you later." Then, he hung up and speed dialed Mia's number. When he heard her pick up, he breathed a sigh of relief. Everything in him relaxed at the sound of her voice and he smiled.

"Alfred?"

"Hi, Mia," he said, his voice gentle, loving. "How are you?"

"The Earthquake in Mexicali caused me, Nevada and Arizona some problems. I'm worried about Diego, though. I know he's probably still recovering from that," said Mia. She was always one to care about everyone's welfare, even if they had wronged her before like Diego, Mexico, had. "Did you just try to call me before?" Alfred's blood froze upon the last statement and he had to force himself to breathe to keep from passing out. "Alfred?" She started sounding worried and he really didn't like making her worried.

"No, I didn't," he said quickly, "Mia, listen, there's something really bizarre going on. There's another me running around, only it's not me, but a different me altogether that keeps agreeing with the president in everything. It's bizarre."

"But, he is the president, isn't he?" asked Mia. "Oh, Alfred, you make me worry so much. Are you sure you're okay? Maybe you need another vacation. We can go to Huntington Beach if you want, or Disneyland."

"I'd love that, Mia, really, but this is more pressing. I don't want the other me trying to convince you he's me," said Alfred quickly, checking the window again, "So, I need something that only you and I know that he can't possibly know. Not if he's just cropped up like he has."

"But, Alfred, if he's you, then wouldn't he already know anything you do?" asked Mia.

Alfred ruffled his hair and grimaced. "I know, but I don't think he does. He just makes up stuff."

"Oh."

"I think I've got an idea," said Alfred, sitting down on the bed again. "The dogtags. He didn't have my glasses, so I don't think he's got my dogtags either. That could change pretty quickly here, so I'm going to write something on the back of my dogtags and I want you to write something else. Make sure it's something permanent. Write down…the date of when I gave you your name. And I'll write down the date we first made love."

He could feel Mia blushing through the phone and smiled at that. "All right," she said softly, "Do be careful, okay, Alfred? I love you."

"I love you, too, Mia," said Alfred, grinning broadly. "Who's your hero?"

"You are, of course!" Mia then started giggling. He could imagine her pretty smile and it made his heart that much warmer. He chuckled with her as he lay back on the bed. When she hung up he lay there on the bed and closed his eyes, smiling to himself. At that moment he wanted to hold Mia close more than anything, to feel her warm body against his, to smell her pretty blonde hair and her golden skin, kiss those soft lips; she was the perfect getaway from the stress of Washington, D.C. life.

However, that all flew out the window when he heard whistling outside the window. He pulled up his dogtags from underneath his shirt and pulled up a second pair. He took a sharpie and wrote down the date he and Mia first made love, back after he came back from the Great War and recovered from the Spanish Flu, and then wrote down a different date on the second pair. He put the second pair elsewhere around the house where it would look like he hid it away from the clone and then went about getting his ammunition and his gun and put those in his jacket.

The other him tried the lock on the front door and then stopped whistling. "HEY! OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR! YOU TRAITOR! YOU ROTTEN ASS! OPEN THE DOOR! THIS ISN'T FAIR! OPEN THE DOOR!"

Sat back and drank a coke slowly as he eyed the door. On the one hand he could open the door and let the prick in with a loaded gun to the guy's face or he could leave him out there and then the guy could end up calling the president into it and the president would force Alfred out of his own home to make way for the "new, improved" Alfred. Alfred liked neither option. He kept his gun for emergencies or when he was in combat, not for shooting annoying people in the face. "I'm calling Barry!" cried the clone from outside.

Alfred gritted his teeth and put his coke down before he went to the door and pulled the stuff away from it and opened the door. He glared at the clone without restraint and then moved away from it to let him inside. "What's the big idea changing the locks on me, man? I mean, sure you don't like me **now**, but you will eventually. After all, this is **my** life you've been taking over and I'm just taking it back. Fair is fair."

Alfred ignored him and sat down to watch some T.V. to drown out the annoying clone and drink his coke. The clone was not to be deterred so readily, though. "You know, FOX isn't really news, right? And that coke? All that sugar will give you diabetes and heart disease. You need to cut that stuff out. Hell, I'll cut it out for you. I'll get rid of all the sugary stuff and greasy stuff you put into my kitchen and then I'll block FOX News."

"FOX is a news station whether you like it or not," said Alfred through his teeth.

The clone laughed. "No it isn't! It's just a bunch of right wing nut jobs spouting off utter bullshit to their zombie-like, redneck hick listeners who are too **stupid** to understand _anything_ about _real_ news. Turn on CNN or MSNBC. **That** is _real_ news, man."

Alfred closed his eyes and fought the throbbing in his head. He needed to get the ass out of his home before he went completely postal. Alfred stood up from his chair and walked over to the clone without a second thought. "Either stop complaining or get out."

"_Me_ complaining? Who's the one that complains all the time to the president like a bratty kid, huh? You throw tantrums all the time with your right wing rhetoric and I'm the one that takes it like a man," said the clone.

"Just—Shut up, damn it!" snapped Alfred.

"Oh, getting confrontational now? Telling me to shut up? That's always how you conservatives go, isn't it. If it doesn't agree with you, you just tell people to shut up. You never let anyone actually have their say," said the clone. "You know what? I'm kicking you out."

"What?" Alfred stopped and looked at the clone, dumbfounded. "Wait, what?"

"You heard me!" The clone grinned broadly at Alfred. "**I'm**—that's me—kicking **you**—that's you—out of **my**—that's me again—house."

Alfred glared at the clone. "This is my house, damn it. You can't kick me out."

"Oh, yes I can," said the clone, "After all, who's going to believe you? I'm the one that's been chained up in the basement for years and you're the one that's been taking over my life. Who's going to believe you? Those right wing nutjobs? Good luck with that!" Then, the clone laughed.

"Get out."

"What?"

"I said get out!" snapped Alfred and he grabbed the clone by the nose and pulled him out forcibly and locked the door.

"LET GO OF ME! I HAVE MY RIGHTS! YOU'RE INFRINGING MY RIGHTS! OPPRESSOR!" shouted the clone as loudly as he could. It only served to further Alfred's already pounding head.

"Shut up!!" he snapped. Then, he pushed everything heavy into the door to keep it closed for a while. The clone kept shouting at the door and kicking it, but Alfred was beyond caring. He just went up to his room and gathered up his things. If the clone managed to get in, he was going to be ready to leave as fast as possible so that he could get to one of the other girls.

* * *

Arthur breathed out slowly and picked up his cellphone. He always got nervous whenever he was calling Aashiyana, not to mention whenever he saw her in person. Aashiyana Singh, India, was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She was curved just right, she was graceful, she had beautifully tanned skin, beautiful black eyes with a thin ring of brilliant, unnaturally colored green around her pupils that was because of being a part of Britain for so long, she had long, beautiful black hair that she always kept in a braid, and she always dressed herself in things that just enhanced every charm she had. She was **beautiful**. Arthur felt that "beautiful" only scratched the surface of her, but it was enough to suffice an accurate description of her.

"_Namaste_, Arthur," said Aashiyana on the phone. For a moment Arthur couldn't really speak or even breathe. "Arthur?"

"S-sorry," mumbled Arthur. He collected himself and cleared his throat softly before he spoke again. "Aashiyana, how are you?"

"I am well," said Aashiyana. He could hear the smile in her voice. "Is there something you wanted to talk to me about or is this a personal call?"

"I… wanted to hear your voice," he said softly, closing his eyes as he leaned his head into the wall beside him.

"Arthur, you know you can come over any time to get away from home," Aashiyana said softly, gently, into Arthur's ear. In a way, he could imagine her lips near his ear, her breath fanning on his cheek and in his wild blonde hair.

"I know," he said and smiled faintly. It was good to hear her speak to him, but what relaxed him the most was being with her. Either way, he almost forgot what it was he meant to talk to her about while letting his heart calm in listening to her speak. He took a deep breath and sat up again against the wall where he was sitting. "Aashiyana, there is something I wanted to ask you about. You're older than most of us, outside of China and Turkey. Have you ever heard of a nation personification splitting up? Becoming two people?"

"Well, nations appear and disappear all the time, Arthur. That is just the way we are," she said, "However; I think you might need to elaborate on what you're talking about. I don't think I quite understand what it is you're asking me."

"Alfred's split," said Arthur.

"Split?"

"There are two of him. One very cheerful and bright, like how Alfred usually is, but more irritating in that 'I want to be like you in every way' aspect," said Arthur. "I got a call from him earlier telling me that he was finally going to be just like me and how I should be proud of him and how he wasn't going to be an ass to the rest of the world and shove his 'freedom loving' at everyone else and be just like the rest of the world."

"That—That really sounds strange," said Aashiyana. She could remember when Alfred first met her back during her time in England as the British Raj. Alfred had come over to visit Arthur for a while, bring some oranges from Florida, and be a general pest toward Arthur. It had been fun watching Arthur get annoyed with Alfred and Aashiyana knew Alfred did it to just be annoying, like a little brother to his elder normally would be. However, when everything was said and done and Aashiyana was in trouble, Alfred stepped in to help Arthur to convince the queen to send aid to India to help the mass starvation there. He had been there for days, weeks, helping Aashiyana keep food down while she bled for her people dying. He had played a Native American drum for her while she sang and danced for one of her many festivals underneath Arthur's fairy tree. He had kissed her warmly underneath that tree and treated her kindly. With all of that, he has remained and upheld every ounce of independence in him that he had. It was something that Aashiyana loved and longed for when she was under the rule of the crown and something she knew Arthur resented a great deal because he knew that she loved Alfred's freedom.

What Arthur described to her, however, was not quite the same Alfred as she knew him to be. What was described to her was more like a parasite, a leech, pretending to be Alfred and doing the exact opposite of what the American nation did. "What else did this other Alfred say?"

"Not to me, but Alfred called a few minutes later and started talking quickly and shouting various things to make it look like I was convinced that there have always been two Alfreds to begin with. From what I could tell, Alfred was hinting at the other saying that Alfred had chained him up in the basement for years and he was just coming out to reclaim his life from the Alfred we know," said Arthur. "This is mad."

"I agree, but we can't tell for certain what is going on and which Alfred is the real Alfred," said Aashiyana softly.

"You can't be serious," said Arthur, "The _real_ Alfred was the one that called me after the… the **clone** did. The _real_ Alfred is the one that hates being exactly like me and does whatever he can to protect and take care of people wherever he can even if he doesn't have the funds to do it. The _real_ Alfred is the one that irritates the fuck out of me whenever he talks about how this nation should be free or that nation shouldn't be attacking another. The _real_ Alfred is annoying, but by God he's **Alfred**."

Aashiyana smiled slowly on her end and closed her eyes. "It's good to hear you say those things, Arthur," she said softly, "And you are right, that is the real Alfred we all know and love." She frowned faintly and thought. "How could a nation as typically stable as America develop a second entity such as that when he hasn't developed another like it even during his Civil War and the revolution against you when there were much worse divides in the people?"

"That's what I can't get my mind to wrap around, Aashiyana," said Arthur quickly, "On the one hand Alfred's been having a serious divide in ideology in his people for a short while that's grown worse and worse over the past year. On the other, he's had worse divides in ideology in the past and those resulted in either victories or a very nasty scar across his stomach."

"Perhaps it is a great metaphor for something happening internally?" asked Aashiyana.

"Perhaps." Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose a moment and sighed. "I want to see you, _Rani_," he whispered softly into the phone. Rani was a term a Maharaja used to refer to his queen and it was something that Arthur had been using since India had become the British Raj and even after she broke away and became India all over again. He only ever used the term between the two of them, however, fearing that one of the other nations would hear him say it and make fun of him for it.

"_I want to see you as well, Raja_," said Aashiyana in Hindi. Arthur felt a shiver run up his spine at hearing her speak that way toward him.

"Come to America," said Arthur softly.

"Hmm?"

"Come to America. I'm going there to help Alfred," said Arthur and then spoke in Hindi to her, his tone full of longing, "_I want to see you, my Rani_."

Aashiyana smiled. "I will come, then, my Raja." Then, she hung up.


End file.
